Technical Information

Bugdom is a third-person, action, platformcomputer game developed by Pangea Software for the Macintosh and was included with the iMac DV 2000 and later iBook models, as well as the PC by Gathering of Developers, and later Ideas From the Deep following the acquiring of Gathering via Take-Two Interactive in 2002. However, Take-Two apparently continued publishing illegal copies of Bugdom, prompting Ideas From the Deep to contact the FBI's crime division. Despite this, Take-Two continued to publish copies following the debate. It was released in North America on December 1, 1999.

Bugdom's story centers on the Bugdom, a kingdom inhabited by insects that appears as an outdoors bug environment. Originally, the kingdom was peacefully ruled by the rollie pollies and ladybugs, but not long ago, the kingdom was overthrown by the tyrannic and pompous King Thorax, leader of an evil clan of fire ants, as well as their evil follower bugs recruited prior to the kingdom's downfall. Thorax now rules the kingdom with an iron fist, and the ladybugs have been imprisoned in spider webcages scattered across the environment. The player assumes the role of main protagonist Rollie McFly, who has survived the ambush of the kingdom by taking refuge in the lawn area. Rollie must travel to Thorax's anthill on the distant reaches of the Bugdom, while freeing various trapped ladybugs along the way.[1]

It was generally well received by critics, being praised for its graphics, gameplay and soundtrack but criticized for certain technical glitches as well as gameplay repetition, and sold fairly well, enough to warrant a sequel, Bugdom 2, which was released on December 30, 2002,[2] and starred a grasshopper named Skip who attempts to retrieve his stolen knapsack from a large Bully Bee as opposed to Rollie McFly. As of March 1, 2002, it has sold over 30,000 copies worldwide, prompting Pangea to rerelease the game as a shareware release.[3]

Contents

Gameplay

Players navigate through ten different stages as Rollie. Rollie has the ability to jump, kick, and roll, the latter two of which can be used to attack most hostile enemies. Nuts are scattered throughout the level which, upon being opened, have power-ups, keys, clovers, or enemies. Gates can only be opened when Rollie has the appropriate colored key. Lady bugs are trapped at several points of each level and can be freed by kicking their cage. When Rollie reaches the level exit, the players score is tallied based on the number of ladybugs freed, the number of clovers found, and if all four pieces of the blue clover has been found.

Setting

The game is set in an outdoors bug environment, in the Bugdom, a kingdom once ruled by insects, namely the rollie pollies and ladybugs that was overthrown by a clan of fire ants who captured all of the Lady Bugs and held them as prisoners, leaving their leader, King Thorax, to rule the land.[1] The player visits several colorful locations throughout the kingdom, namely a lawn (levels 1 and 2), a pond (level 3), a forest which resembles a bug's interpretation of a garden (levels 4 and 5), a beehive (levels 6 and 7), a nighttime-themed level (level 8), and an anthill (levels 9 and 10). Levels 5, 7, and 10 have a certain challenge (Level 5; breaking open a beehive, Level 7; killing the queen bee, Level 10; defeating the fire ant King Thorax)

Reception

The Mac OS version of Bugdom received overwhelmingly positive reviews, according to a 70% on GameRankings.[4] Dziga Robilev of IGN rated Bugdom a 7/10, calling it "one of the best crafted platform games available for the Mac."[5] However, Robilev also stated "The only thing holding this baby back is that the levels themselves don't offer enough variety. There is a lot of the same activity being performed over and over again. Still, the game is a fun play and younger gamers will definitely have a good time with it."[5]MacMagazin rated the game a 6/6 Mac score, saying "We are sure: Bugdom will be the summer hit this year among the Mac games."[6] iMacSidian rated the game a 5/5, saying "Bugdom really fills the huge gap of platform games for the Mac... The graphics are absolutely top notch - you have to see it to believe it."[6] Mac Gamer's Ledge rated the game a 4.5 out of 5 score, calling it "a feast for the eyes and ears."[6] AppleLinks called the game's musical score "fantastic" and called the game "one of the first games that really can be enjoyed by both children and adults."[6]Inside Mac Games rated the game a 4/5, saying "Bugdom is certainly a great game... and it is good enough to rival many of the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation titles that it is similar to. Its easy-to-grasp controls and interface are almost totally transparent, even to new users, and the feel of the game is just plush and polished - as is the look."

Sequel

There is also a sequel to Bugdom, which is called Bugdom 2. It featured a similar style of gameplay, but with a grasshopper who has to get his knapsack back by going in and around a house.